Who is actually looking, and why
The people visiting your site on the commercial side are rarely browsing. They are estimators building a tender list, supply chain managers checking a new name, quantity surveyors comparing three or four subcontractors, and occasionally a client's procurement lead doing background checks on the named supply chain.
They already have your PQQ or your Constructionline profile in many cases. The website is a cross-check. Does this firm look like the size it claims to be? Has it done work of this type and value? Is it still trading actively? A site that answers those questions quickly helps you. One that leaves them open sends the buyer back to the firms they already know.
The evidence buyers expect to find
Most of this is information you already hold in tender documents. The job is to make it visible without anyone having to ask for it.
- Accreditations and memberships you genuinely hold, such as SSIP schemes (CHAS, SafeContractor, SMAS), Constructionline level, ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001, with current status rather than an old logo
- Clear capability statements: what you do, typical package values, sectors, and the regions you cover
- Named people with roles, particularly directors, contracts managers and whoever leads health and safety
- Company details: registered name and number, VAT number, office address and a landline or direct contact
- Policy statements likely to be requested anyway, such as health and safety, environmental, quality, modern slavery and equality
- Insurance levels stated plainly, if you are comfortable publishing them
Case studies that do the selling for you
A gallery of site photos tells a buyer very little. What an estimator wants is a comparable job: same sector, similar value, similar constraints. A useful case study states the client or main contractor (with permission), the contract value or a band such as £250k to £500k, the form of contract, the programme length and what made it difficult.
Live hospital environments, restricted city centre access, phased handovers in an occupied school, a tight sectional completion: these details show you understand the risks the main contractor is carrying. Six to ten well documented projects will usually do more than fifty thumbnails. Organise them by sector so a buyer in education or healthcare can find their own world in one click.
What quietly costs you the shortlist
Few buyers will tell you your website put them off. They simply move to the next name. The common problems are mundane.
- A latest news post or project dated two or three years ago, which reads as a firm that has shrunk or stopped
- Expired or unverifiable accreditation logos
- Stock photography of people in hard hats in place of your own sites and staff
- No indication of scale, so a £15m contractor looks the same as a two person outfit
- Slow pages on mobile, which matters because a lot of checking happens on a phone on site or between meetings
- A contact form as the only route in, with no named person for estimating or pre-construction enquiries
Getting the practical side right
Structure matters more than visual flair. A sensible layout for most contractors is sectors, services, projects, about, accreditations and contact, with a dedicated page for each service and sector so that it can be found in search and linked to from a tender submission.
Cost depends on the number of pages, how much case study content needs writing, and whether you need extras such as a careers section or a document library. For an established contractor, a properly built site commonly falls somewhere between £3,000 and £15,000, with larger groups spending more. Whatever you spend, budget time to keep it current. A quarterly update of projects, accreditations and people is usually enough to keep the site working as evidence rather than as a liability.